Eidos Montreal has removed the experience system from the Thief reboot, game director Nic Cantin and lead level designer Daniel Windfeld Schmidt revealed in the company’s latest “Take 5” Q&A.

Speaking to Eidos Montreal web content manager Valérie Bourdeau, Cantin and Schmidt said that the XP system was reducing player motivation to steal, which is the core tenet of the Thief experience. Negative fan reaction to the “Headshot XP” pop-up from the E3 gameplay demo also played a role in the design decision.

“Fans might be surprised how often the devs go to the forum to see how things are perceived in the ‘real world,’ Schmidt said in the Q&A. “This feedback is extremely valuable to us, so as you can imagine, the consistent reaction to the XP system was something that indicated we needed to revisit some design decisions.”

“It is more a design decision to add to our economy system and entice the player to steal more,” Cantin added. “But yes, the E3 reaction was right, rewarding killing like that was wrong for a Master Thief.”

Thief, the fourth installment in the franchise as well as a reboot for the series, will launch for PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360, and Windows PC on February 25, 2014 in North America, February 28 in PAL regions and Japan. For more on Thief, check out Josh’s recent hands-on impressions.

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Thief Experience Point System Removed to Better Motivate Stealing

Eidos Montreal has removed the experience system from the Thief reboot, game director Nic Cantin and lead level designer Daniel Windfeld Schmidt revealed in the company’s latest “Take 5” Q&A.

Speaking to Eidos Montreal web content manager Valérie Bourdeau, Cantin and Schmidt said that the XP system was reducing player motivation to steal, which is the core tenet of the Thief experience. Negative fan reaction to the “Headshot XP” pop-up from the E3 gameplay demo also played a role in the design decision.

“Fans might be surprised how often the devs go to the forum to see how things are perceived in the ‘real world,’ Schmidt said in the Q&A. “This feedback is extremely valuable to us, so as you can imagine, the consistent reaction to the XP system was something that indicated we needed to revisit some design decisions.”

“It is more a design decision to add to our economy system and entice the player to steal more,” Cantin added. “But yes, the E3 reaction was right, rewarding killing like that was wrong for a Master Thief.”

Thief, the fourth installment in the franchise as well as a reboot for the series, will launch for PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360, and Windows PC on February 25, 2014 in North America, February 28 in PAL regions and Japan. For more on Thief, check out Josh’s recent hands-on impressions.